D.C. flag AWOL at military ceremony

D.C. residents Tomi Rucker and Michael Boyd beamed with pride as their son walked out for his basic-training commencement from the Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois. One by one, flags were presented to denote the home states of the recruits, eliciting cheers from pockets of supporters. But Jonathan M. Rucker and his parents saw no flag bearer with the distinctive flag of the District, its three red stars and two red bars on a white background.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton says she is calling upon to president to require that the D.C. flag be flown at military functions where the flags of all 50 states are flown. She made this declaration at the D.C. World War I memorial on Monday, Nov. 12, 2012, where she met with a a Washington, D.C. mom whose son is now serving in the U.S. Navy and said that she was "saddened" by the fact that every other state had a flag present as part of the boot camp graduation, but there was none to recognize her son. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)